LINPACK is a software library for performing numerical linear algebra on digital computers. It was written in Fortran by Jack Dongarra, Jim Bunch, Cleve Moler, and Gilbert Stewart, and was intended for use on supercomputers in the 1970s and early 1980s. It has been largely superseded by LAPACK, which runs more efficiently on modern architectures.

LINPACK makes use of the BLAS (Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms) libraries for performing basic vector and matrix operations.

The LINPACK benchmarks appeared initially as part of the LINPACK user's manual. The parallel LINPACK benchmark implementation called HPL (High Performance Linpack) is used to benchmark and rank supercomputers for the TOP500 list.

World's most powerful computer by year

Year(s)BenchmarkComputerDesignCasingSystemSuccessor
ManufacturerDesignerRelease dateUnits soldPriceDimensionsWeightPowerFront-endOperating systemCPUMemoryStorageMIPSFLOPS
1951-1954MIT Whirlwind IMIT19541
1955-1957IBM NORCIBM19541
1958-1959AN/FSQ-7IBM195524250 tonsup to 3 megawatts49,000 vacuum tubes @ 75,000 instructions per second
1960IBM 7090IBM
1960–1961UNIVAC LARC
1961–1963IBM 7030 StretchIBMGene AmdahlMay 19619US$7,780,000 (equivalent to $70,550,000 in 2021)70,000 pounds (35 short tons; 32 t)100 kW @ 110 VMCP64-bit processor2048 kilobytes (262,144 x 64 bits)1.2 MIPSCDC 6600
1964–19683 megaflopsCDC 6600Control Data CorporationSeymour CraySeptember 1964100+US$2,370,000 (equivalent to $20,710,000 in 2021)Height : 2,000 mm (79 in) Cabinet width: 810 mm (32 in) Cabinet length : 1,710 mm (67 in) Width overall : 4,190 mm (165 in)about 12,000 lb (6.0 short tons; 5.4 t)30 kW @ 208 V 400 HzSCOPE, KRONOS60-bit processor @ 10 MHzUp to 982 kilobytes (131000 x 60 bits)2 MIPSCDC 7600
1969–197510 megaflopsCDC 7600Control Data CorporationSeymour CrayJune 196775+US$62 - $155 thousands (monthly rent in 1968)Height : 188 cm (74 in) Width: 302 cm (119 in)95 kW @ 208 V 400 HzChippewa, SCOPE, KRONOS60-bit processor @ 36 MHz3.84 Megabytes (up to 512000 60-bit words)15 MIPS36 MFLOPSCDC Cyber
1976-1982136 megaflopsCray-1Cray ResearchSeymour Cray1975100+US$7.9 million in 1977 (equivalent to $35.3 million in 2021)Height: 196 cm (77 in) Dia. (base): 263 cm (104 in) Dia. (columns): 145 cm (57 in)5.5 tons (Cray-1A)115 kW @ 208 V 400 HzData General EclipseCOS, UNICOS64-bit processor @ 80 MHz8.39 Megabytes (up to 1 048 576 words)303 Megabytes (DD19 Unit)160 MFLOPSCray X-MP
1983–1985713 megaflopsCray X-MP/4Cray ResearchSteve Chen1982US$15 million2.62 m (8.6 ft) x 1.96 m (6.4 ft)5.12 t (11,300 lb)345 kWMost minicomputers of the timeCOS, UNICOS4x Vector processor 64 bits @ 105 - 117 MHz128 megabytes38.4 gigabytes (32 disks)400 MIPS (4 CPU)800 MFLOPS (4 CPU)Cray-2
1985–19871.95 gigaflops (peak)Cray-2Cray Research198525Custom Vector ProcessorsCray Y-MP
1988–19892.144 gigaflopsCray Y-MP/832Cray Research
1990–19914.0 gigaflops (measured)Fujitsu VP2000Fujitsu
199220.0 gigaflopsNEC SX-3/44NEC
June 199359.7 gigaflopsThinking Machines CM-5/1024Thinking Machines Corporation (TMC)Danny Hillis

See also

  • List of open-source mathematical libraries